Pandya Speaks on the Koffee with Karan controversy

While 2020 has been a horrible year for the entire world, so far, 2019 wasn’t too hot for Indian cricketer Hardik Pandya on the Koffee with Karan controversy.

India’s disappointing loss at the World Cup and his back injury which ruled him out of competition for over five months is just a couple of big hurdles he faced during this time.

However, one of the biggest controversies of his professional career also took place when he decided to partner up with his buddy and India teammate KL Rahul on Karan Johar’s talk show Koffee With Karan.

In a conversation with Dinesh Karthik, Pandya relived the moment when everything got out of hand for him and how, one of India’s favourite sons became a villain overnight.

“If you calculate all the coffee Starbucks has sold till now, mine was much costlier than that,” he added.

While the show is known for the gossip that actors and celebrities tend to share with Karan Johar normally, Pandya took it a bit further.

Talks of sexism and misogyny went to new heights as the Indian all-rounder said things like “I like to watch and observe how they (women) move in the club. I’m little from the Black side, so I need to see how they move”.

Pandya also felt like sharing the story of the day he lost his virginity.

“When I lost my virginity, I came home and said, ‘Main karke aya hai aaj (I had sex today)'”. And, then, what followed later, “At a party, my parents asked me ‘acha tera wala (women) kaun sa hai (who is your interest here?)’ so I said ‘yeh, yeh, yeh (pointing out women)’ and they were like ‘waah proud of you beta’.”

With the kind of hate Pandya faced from the public, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had to take action and ended up handing a ban to both Pandya and Rahul for the same before a three-match ODI series against Australia.

Pandya has since worked hard on improving his image.

His back surgery also garnered him a lot of support and good wishes from the fans of Indian cricket and he is even engaged to be married to actress Natasa Stankovic.